


Space Race

by ineffablesheep



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Cold War, Espionage, Failed camoflage, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hurt Tony Stark, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Maria Stark's A+ Parenting, Nicknames, No beta we die like the tired fools we are, Protective Bucky Barnes, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, is it considered parenting if she's not there to parent?, its subtle but its there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 13:46:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18283514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ineffablesheep/pseuds/ineffablesheep
Summary: Tony and the Winter Soldier meet in the 1970s while the soldier is spying on the Stark household. The Cold War means keeping an eye on the competition - even if that means sending in an asset that's not so good at urban camoflage





	Space Race

**Author's Note:**

> This idea kept pestering me while I was working on other things so I wrote it so it would leave me alone. I didn't really sleep because of it but hey, fuck it.
> 
> It's a little rough but I hope you enjoy my lovelies!

“You’re not a gardener, are you?”

 

The asset froze. No one was supposed to see it, this was an infiltration mission and it had strict orders to not be seen under any circumstances. But this was the Stark child and the asset couldn’t maintain one set of mission parameters while going in direct conflict with another. It must be malfunctioning too because no one ever snuck up on the asset. It would have to report this to its handlers. It would be punished. Maybe the asset could threaten the child into complying and keep it quiet? Perhaps it should have found a taller tree to hide in?

 

While the asset was considering this, the child carried on talking.

 

“Are you a Russian spy? Cause you’ve got a red star on your shoulder and Da- Howard says that only communists have red stars. I like your arm though. Do all Russian spies have metal arms? That’s how communism works, right?”

 

No, a new plan would have to be found.

 

“It looks stiff though. I bet I could build way better but I’ve got projects that I’m working on. Just like my- Howard.”

 

\---------

 

The asset decided to remain silent and wait the child out. It took eight minutes thirteen seconds for the child to stop talking. Twenty-four minutes eleven seconds total before the child got up from the base of the asset’s chosen tree. There was no need to threaten the child into silence, it had decided. It rambled enough that any mention of the asset would be missed amongst the chatter. The asset was a ghost, if anyone came looking it would simply relocate.

 

\---------

 

“You’re not a very good spy, are you?” The asset remained silent. “Howard says that the Russians might have got into space first but we’re still better. I haven’t met an American spy but I think we might be.”

 

The child had definitely met an American spy, several in fact based on what the asset had seen in a month’s surveillance. The child’s godmother being the prime example. Her occasional and unpredictable visits were an additional challenge with the mission. The asset said nothing. Mission parameters did not allow for the sharing of intel, especially with children.

 

“Cause I found you last week and all you did was change which tree you’re hiding in.”

 

Mission parameters required an asset better versed in camouflage and espionage when the Stark child was present.

 

\---------

 

The third time the child found the asset it began to wonder if the child was enhanced like the asset itself. It’d been on missions where children were present and had never been discovered. The Stark child though, the asset could never keep track of it. Today though, the child was silent and kept a little further from the asset than it had previously. This was out of character for the child.

 

Today, the child’s face was covered in a bruise the size of a man’s palm and the lower lip was split. Its eyes were read and missing… something, the asset wasn’t sure what, was missing from them. The asset’s metal hand twitched towards the child, stalling when it flinched away from it. What was it supposed to do in this situation? Where was this feeling coming from? It had been away from its handlers and out of cryo too long. It was beginning to malfunction badly, and needed recalibration.

 

But the child was still. Hurt children required comfort and the asset knew there was no one in the house besides the man who’d left the bruise that would talk to the child. The employees did the minimum, Maria Stark was negligent when present and at present she was overseas and had taken the butler with her. The asset wasn’t a person, it was a weapon and weapons do not provide comfort. But the child had come to it and if the asset was going to be punished and recalibrated anyway…

 

“Are you okay?” the asset asked. Its voice was harsh from disuse and a stray thought wondered if that would scare the child. It took a moment and a confused look before the asset realised it had spoken in Russian. It repeated itself in English and sounded just as rough, tongue tripping on unfamiliar vowels. The child didn’t flinch from its words though and quietly whispered ‘no’. Unacceptable.

 

The asset did not have medical supplies as a part of its gear this mission. There was nothing in the surrounding trees that could serve as medical care for a child and so the asset had little choice left.

 

“We are going into the house. The asset requires medical supplies.”

 

“What if someone sees you?” The asset shook its head.

 

“The asset is trained in stealth. You will enter the house and I will follow.”

 

\---------

 

Once the child’s face had been iced and the lip disinfected, the asset left it inside and returned to its perch. It had memorised as much of the inside of the house as possible without the child noticing. It had decided against staying longer in the mansion to gather intel, the risk was not worth it. The child was now treated, it had parameters to keep within. The mission was the only thing that mattered.

 

\---------

 

“Stark men are made of iron.” It told the asset, doing its utmost not to cry.

 

“Nyet, children are not made of metal.” The asset corrected the child.

 

“’M not a child. I’m five!”

 

The asset had the strange urge to sigh. The chatter was distracting but it preferred the chatter to no chatter. This was another malfunction to be reported.

 

\---------

 

“What’s your name?”

 

“The asset does not have a name.”

 

“You can’t not have a name. Everyone has a name. Mine’s Tony.”

 

“The asset is not a person. The asset is a weapon.”

 

“Fine. I’m gonna call you… I’m gonna call you… Sputnik!”

 

“Sput…nik?”

 

“Yeah, like the Russian satellite. ‘Cause you’re Russian and I like Sputnik and I like you even though I’m not supposed to like Russians and their space stuff cause da- Howard doesn’t. But he hits me and you don’t so I think it might be okay.” The child named Tony trailed off towards the end but the nervous hope remained on its face. The asset didn’t have a name and it wasn’t supposed to. Weapons aren’t people. Although, some of its handlers referred to their weapons as ‘she’ or named them. So maybe, maybe the asset could be Tony’s weapon for a little bit and have a name.

 

“Sputnik.” It twisted the word through the Russian pronunciation and felt an odd warmth in its body when the child Tony tried to copy it.

 

“It is nice to meet you, Tony. My name is Sputnik.”

 

\---------

 

“Privet Sputnik!” Sputnik smiled slightly as Tony ran up to the tree it'd chosen for its hideout today.

 

“Privet, how are you today?” It had a mission to complete but day by day it was beginning to lose focus. It had to shake itself the previous week when it found itself thinking of Tony’s Russian lessons as its mission. That was a fault that needed to be corrected. This was a no-contact mission however and there was no handler or Chair to recalibrate it. It was still debating whether or not it could have two handlers and two missions.

 

“I’m okay. Last night, Howard got drunk with uncle Obie and yelled at me when I wanted to show them my designs for a new rocket. How are you?”

 

“I am good. The blanket you gifted me is very warm. Spasibo.”

 

\---------

 

Sputnik had been ordered to do some weird things in its existence. It couldn’t remember them well, just vague impressions. But, helping a five year old child work on their pet project by picking up a V6 car engine all with its eyes closed topped the list. The asset had drawn the line at being blindfolded, something in it rearing up in panic at the request. Instead they’d compromised, Sputnik promising to keep its eyes tight shut while in the presence of Tony’s engine. ‘It’s my design, intellectual property. And I don’t think I’m allowed to show Russian spies – no peeking! – my work even if they’re my friend sorry. Wait, sorry is sozhaleyushchiy, da?”

 

“Da, Molodets Tony. I promise to keep my eyes closed.”

 

“Good. Once I’ve restarted the space program I’ll take you to the moon with me. You can look all you want then, promise.”

 

\---------

 

“He did not like your engine?” Sputnik asked even though it already knew the answer. If Howard Stark had liked the engine, it wouldn’t be hiding Tony at the bottom of the garden patching him up yet again. Tony has sustained a concerning amount of damage in the time that Sputnik had known him but this was a whole new level.

 

There wasn’t any internal bleeding that Sputnik could detect but the bruising on the now six year-old’s torso was… extensive. His forearms had taken a lot of the blows meant for his head and had resulted in a broken radius and ulna on one side. His face was bruised but his jaw, eyes, nose and teeth were okay thankfully. There were a few cuts that required cleaning and his lip had split again. However, there was no one to take Tony to the hospital without Howard Stark getting involved and the only medical supplies Sputnik had access to was the first aid kit in the kitchen. It would make do.

 

Tony was perched on a low wall, eyes watering as Sputnik carefully cleaned a cut on his leg. It’d already set and splinted the forearm and Tony was clutching the cast to his bruised body as he watched Sputnik. There wasn’t much for either of them to say.

 

If Sputnik kept guard in the tree next to Tony’s window the next few nights, neither of them said anything.

 

\---------

 

Sputnik wasn’t sure why Tony handed it the permanent marker until the boy explained. At Tony’s request, Sputnik signed his name in tidy Cyrillic and a short message to the boy.

 

The risk was worth the smile, it thought.

 

\---------

 

“I have to go. I’m sorry Tony.”

 

“Please don’t go, pozhaluysta!”

 

“They’ll come for me if I don’t Tony. They’ll hurt you. I can’t let them do that.”

 

“I’ll find you one day. I will. And I’ll take you to space and you can help me with your eyes open and I’ll give you the bestest, softest blankets.”

 

“I know Tony, I believe you. You’re going to be amazing.” Sputnik pulled Tony close and hugged him as tight as he could, mindful of the still healing injuries. It knew it would have to leave eventually but this was worse than anticipated. “Proshchay, Apollo.”

 

\---------

 

“Ya lyublyu tebya, Sputnik!” It nearly stumbled, hearing the words written on its Apollo’s cast returned to it.

 

“Ya lyublyu tebya, my little rocket scientist.” Sputnik called back through the trees. The Chair would take everything, it knew, but by the gods it was going to fight for this.

 

\---------

 

Something stirred in the asset when the target looked up at it. It was a weapon, it wasn’t supposed to feel, but something burned in its chest when the target stopped crying. It was similar with the witness. It would need to report this to its handlers when it reached the extraction point but for now, maybe it would enjoy it.

 

\---------

 

Steve Rogers calling it ‘Bucky’ seemed to knock something loose in it. But no matter how much Steve and his team called it ‘Bucky’ and how many memories it got back, it still felt… wrong. When it asked Steve if he would call it ‘Soldat’, it didn’t go well. Trying to explain that the ‘S’ was comforting, the right name on the tip of its tongue, had the other super soldier up in arms and trying to bring ‘Bucky’ back.

 

When its arm finally malfunctioned to the point it needed repair, Steve brought it to the tower’s workshop to meet Tony Stark. The man knew about the death of his parents, Steve told it and yes he was still prepared to help. It's arm was complicated but Starktech was valued all over the world, even 'Bucky' knew of it. Tony Stark was skilled and generous. It was in good hands.

 

\---------

 

The lab was a mess of wires and holograms and robots with glow in the dark stars stuck to them. The man himself looked familiar but it couldn't remember having met Tony Stark. Had he been a target at one point? Stark was staring at it and it was staring back and Steve was talking but it couldn't, _wouldn't_ break eye contact. There was a word on the tip of it's tongue, it just needed-

 

“Tony, this is my best friend, Bu-”

 

“Sputnik.”

 

“Apollo.” The name was soft and gentle, bringing warmth to its bones as its own name settled across his shoulders. In a memory, a small, scarred hand held tightly to it's metal one.

 

“Wait, you know each other? And his name is Bucky!”

 

Sputnik crossed the room in a couple of strides and met Apollo halfway, pulling the man into a crushing hug. It was returned just as enthusiastically. There were tears but Sputnik couldn't tell whose they were. Steve was still talking but he sounded far away. It didn't matter, nothing did.

 

“I’m here, Apollo, I’m here.”

 

“I’m gonna wrap you up in a blanket and sit on you I swear to Rutherford."

 

"Your arm was broken, when I left. Did it heal okay?" Sputnik didn't let go, twisting just enough to be able to look at his Apollo. He wiggled all his fingers and flexed his wrist to demonstrate.

 

"I'll have a good look at your arm today while we catch up - go _away_ Steve - cause I don't think a magic cast is gonna do the trick sadly. Anything you want to do you let me know, da?

 

“Da, mission accepted."

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I actually did a bit of research for this one, and then proceeded to barely involve the Cold War or the space race. I just wanted the Winter Soldier taking care of Tony as a kid and calling him a rocket scientist. I don't know why Sputnik was hiding in trees, or how that was helpful to it but it does what it wants, apparently.
> 
> All the Russian is from Google or my picture dictionary so if I've made a mistake just let me know.
> 
>    
> Comments and kudos are always treasured  
> Love,
> 
> Sheep x


End file.
